The present invention relates to modeling the heart in medical images, and more particularly, to automatically estimating a personalized 4D anatomical heart model of the full cardiac system from volumetric image sequences (4D data).
Heart disease includes conditions affecting the heart, such as coronary heart disease, heart attack, congestive heart failure, heart valve disease and congenital heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. Mathematical models of the heart, such as statistical shape models, have the potential to reshape clinical evaluation and treatment of heart disease. However, conventional models of the heart have significant limitations, as they are typically either generic or restricted to specific substructures of the heart rather than modeling the full cardiac system. Accordingly, a method for generating a patient specific, personalized anatomic model of the full cardiac system is desirable.